Krishna B. Garg: Do Globalisation and Modern Scientific Developments Pose New Challenges for the Society!

Lecturer/Position/Organization: Krishna B. Garg/Professor/University of Rajasthan, Jaipur - 302004, India Session/Theme: Science, Ethics and the Ethics of Scientific Research Title of the presentation: Do Globalisation and Modern Scientific Developments Pose New Challenges for the Society!

It is perhaps proper to club science and technology together for the sake of discussion even if their internal scope is different. Financial and infrastructural support for science comes largely through technology. The ideological issues are, however, very long term and less easily perceived. Science and technology therefore used to be the aim and instrument of developing nations but globalisation has introduced new elements.

Easy mobility of the science elite has introduced a large alienation amongst them from their underdeveloped origins- they now serve others more than their own societies! Globalisation has led to the cult of big science on international and national scale, in turn, giving rise to growth of science bureaucracy in both power and extent. The science elite and the science bureaucracy must therefore not only learn to coexist but also find ways to promote good scientific research. Despite many negative features one of the positive offshoots of globalisation is that perhaps secretive science is now not so easy to pursue! The failed allegation of pursuing a secret programme on development of weapons of mass destruction against Iraq is the most recent case in point.

The accepted ethos of science is that its theories be subject to logical and empirical evaluations independent of their social or political context. So this norm (ethos) is not a serious issue of debate. What can be, is the choice and priorities of science. While values do not, as a rule, emerge from science, it does not mean that Scientists as human beings should themselves not raise issues based on values. The decisions however, must be in the public domain and be democratic.

The recent maturing of life sciences (in relation to physics sciences) has brought serious challenges. Their social, legal and economic implications may be serious and hence these cannot be ignored. The bogey of pseudo-science (creative design and all) being raised and propagated by some misusing avenues provided by globalisation is an even more serious concern. These must be discussed threadbare and addressed by the science community as well as by the society at large. Future role of science and its credibility depends on how we are able to address these new challenges.